You’re A Broker, Why Does Everyone Want In Your Pocket? How Do You Keep Them Out!

The list of assumptions and supposed real world perceptions are endless.

Are they baseless?

Probably some but mostly not so much.

So, why don’t I get it all out of the way? If I miss one or two feel free chime in.

Brokers are:

White, male, arrogant, sales and deal driven, only sales and deal driven, stuck in the past, cheap, unwilling to open their minds to, not use to, don’t want or need to change, and finally, just flat out won’t pay for anything.

Disclosure: I am a licensed #CRE Broker and have been for years and years. How many?(None of your business) Does that put me in that same group as all of the above?

I’m a licensed #CRE broker so the answer must be, yes!

And guess what? I couldn’t be more thrilled.

I’ve heard it as much as you if not more. I try not to laugh out loud when I hear it.

It never comes from another broker. Never.

If anything I will admit that there is in my opinion, more than a bit of assumption and ignorance combined when some or parts of those statements are thrown out as if they are set in stone facts.

First of all, brokers as you and I know are transactional.

That means we discover create and fill a pipeline that ultimately become deals.

Deals that are executed with transactions.

Those transactions get us PAID!

It’s the whole hunt it down kill it and eat it metaphor.

Too much of a visual? The vision of the hunter and the hunted.

Are there other ways? Yes, sure there are but admit it you kind of like the primal metaphor, don’t you?

What you and I know that the rest of the world for some reason fails to get is that we are the center of the universe. Yes, the center of the universe. I said it. Of course, I said it.

That is also somewhat a metaphor.

What we are is the start and the continual center of a deal that creates a certain number of transactions that do what?

GET’S EVERYONE PAID.

Yeah, now you’re feeling me right.

How much money is made from a single deal that you created mostly out of nothing?

“Wow, that broker made X, that’s a big number. I’m not sure they earned it.”

Let’s step back for a minute and think about all the people involved in a transaction, and I’m not talking about closing one I’m talking about everything around it.

Feel free to chime in again if you think I missed some.

Architects, and engineers of many types, construction companies, and laborers, surveyors, environmental compliance, regulatory at all levels local and state governments, legal, insurance, accounting tax. Analytical, banking finance and on and on.

Now, how many people touch a transaction? Think about that. If they touch it, they are GETTING PAID.

You may have thought about this in the past, but it’s a HUGE number if you drill down.

You are the center of all that.

That seems like an incredible amount of value you are creating for a whole bunch of people.

Ok, it’s more than just a value it’s real spendable money. Take it to the bank and then spend it kind of money.

It seems like there should be some way to leverage that, you would think so.

How come every time you turn around somebody is trying to get into your pocket?

All they want to do is “improve” what it is that you do for a living.

Let me rephrase that; they want to improve what you do to help make a whole hell of a lot of people a lot of money.

Of course, you need to pay for that improvement and why not they are helping you create “more value.”

You balk at that on certain levels and I understand why.

They also always want something additional from you, I said always and you know what’s next.

They want……..Your data.

So, it’s “hey #CRE brokers making the world a ton of money, why don’t you pay me and also give me YOUR DATA.”

Hmmm.

Here is what you and I know for a fact. We are but one source of data. One source of data, not the only source. Again, not the only source. What’s crazy is that most if not all brokers understand this. And why? They use all types of sources of data to do deals. All types of sources. Not just ONE! They have to, or the deal can’t happen.

Hmmm.

I think everyone can agree on one basic thing. That data and the transactions created from those deals are data gold.

It’s more than that. It’s a data set that enables commercial real estate to function.

Without that data and the deals created from it, we are doing what again? Uhhhh?

So, “here you are #CRE broker, use these tools to create more value, please. Oh and pay for the privilege.”

Seems pretty one sided to me. The you always pay side.

I am after all a broker.

How should you could you and can you keep them out of your pocket?

Well, how about withholding the data.

Maybe they don’t need it.

Maybe you need it.

You did create it after all.

Maybe THEY should pay for it.

Maybe YOU should get paid for it.

Hmmm.

How does that not work for you? You have to try and screw that up.

How about this?

Maybe you don’t want to keep them completely out.

Before I mentioned leverage, and I bring it up again because of this.

You are the source of the entire pipeline from discovery to close and all the data that comes with it.

And that is a Powerful! Position!

But, you need help; you need more help than you think.

Are you sure you know what to do with all that Power?

I’m not so sure at this point, how about you?

Where and how are you using managing and maintaining all those data sets?

Do you even know why you should? Hint: World Domination.

What are you missing that you’re not even sure what it is you’re missing. See my point!

You need something, and yes we will call them tools to help you do what?

How long could that list be?

How about stay competitive, manage deal flow, more important manage workflow, aggregation and integration just to name a few. Imagine the possibilities. There is so much more.

You need to seek out, pilot, find, use, test, and wear out these tools until something hundreds of times better begs to take its place.

Don’t fall back on the all familiar legacy products out of complicity.

Don’t listen to the rhetoric and or shoulder the perceived weight or blame.

You’re A Broker, Why Does Everyone Want In Your Pocket?

It’s always about what you do.

You and you alone help create an entire industry and all the money it makes.

How Do You Keep Them Out!

If you do are you sure it’s for the right reasons? Are you sure?

+1 If anything this is a little love/thank you letter to all the people banging the streets, doing the deals and getting PAID, E-V-E-R-Y-D-A-Y.

+1+1 Trip to Toronto and lunch with three distinct commercial real estate brokers. We talked only technology and how it needs to advance commercial real estate. Was there talk about the legacy environment we must all work in today? Of, course there was. But they want it to move forward, and they can handle just about anything you bring them. Three incredibly intelligent and savvy people. These three will recognize themselves when they read this so……. All three were big hitters and “seasoned.” They will be hitting it heavy in Toronto for years and years to come. Nothing tech gets past these three, nothing. Good luck getting into their pockets.

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